How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Page)
Quote #10
He dragged her into the cane fields, pinned her down on the ground. He had a black bandanna over his face so she never saw anything but his hair, which was the color of eggplants. He kept pounding her until she was too stunned to make a sound. When he was done, he made her keep her face in the dirt, threatening to shoot her if she looked up. (21.139)
Sophie eventually learns the whole story about Martine's rape, and it haunts her especially when she returns to Haiti and witnesses the attack on Dessalines by the Macoutes. Her mother's suffering never seems to end; in fact, it seems to be catching, as Sophie inherits Martine's anxiety through these secondary memories.
Quote #11
I looked back at my daughter, who was sleeping peacefully. It was a good sign that at least she slept a lot, perhaps a bit more than other children. The fact that she could sleep meant that she had no nightmares, and maybe, would never become a frightened insomniac like my mother and me. (29.193)
Brigitte's ability to snooze helps ease Sophie's fears that her mother's trauma and subsequent mental illness might be somehow genetic. Sophie's not immediately able to free herself from the cycle of suffering endured by the women in her family, which ups her anxiety about her own little girl.
Quote #12
I waited for him to fall asleep, then went to the kitchen. I ate every scrap of the dinner leftovers, then went to the bathroom, locked the door, and purged all the food out of my body. (30.200)
Sophie suffers from bulimia, a condition that she tells her mother is "not so simple" to cure. Her behavior seems at once to be an attempt to overcome her emotions and to purge her anxieties from her mind. This moment is triggered by intimacy with her husband, which causes Sophie both physical and psychological distress despite his best efforts at tenderness.